Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Ikea and Volvo Cars are among the companies being targeted for a boycott by some Israelis angry over a Swedish newspaper article that alleged Israeli soldiers had harvested organs from slain Palestinians.

More than 10,000 Israelis have signed an online petition in the past two days that was set up after the Swedish government declined a request by Israel to officially condemn the article, published by the Aftonbladet daily on Aug. 17.

The boycott threat puts further strain on relations between the two nations, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday the article was a “blood libel” and that he expects the Swedish government to condemn it.

“I have as little right as any other cabinet minister to act against a publishing decision, no matter what I may think of what has been published,” Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt wrote on his Web site on Aug. 22. “What worries and grieves me the most is some of the reactions -- not least in other countries -- that this decision has led to,” he said, referring to the decision to publish the article.

The boycott petition was set up Moran Hajbi, an Israeli army reservist who told the Ynet news Web site, “I am simply a citizen who cares, and cannot stand idly by in light of the publication of the Swedish blood libel.”

The article, by journalist Donald Bostroem, alleged Israeli soldiers killed Palestinian men and removed their organs in 1992. Bostroem said he doesn’t have any evidence of the allegations, only that he can prove that Palestinians he has interviewed made such claims.

No Change Expected

“Nothing in the article is untrue, there is no libel, and there are no lies,” he told Bloomberg by telephone. “It simply contains quotes from Palestinian families, and the Israeli army was allowed to say what it wanted in the article,” he said.

The article is being used as a political tool in Israel, Bostroem said, adding he did not expect the Swedish government to change its position.

“Both the government and the newspaper have refused to back down and Israel is now making even more noise, but I don’t think they will succeed,” he said.

Ikea has one store in Israel, just east of the coastal city of Netanya, franchised to an investors’ group headed by New York-based businessman Matthew Bronfman that is in the process of setting up a second outlet. “Ikea is a commercial, non- political organization that has and will continue having an excellent relationship with the Israeli consumers,” the Israeli Ikea branch said today in an e-mailed statement.

No Difference Yet

Volvo Cars, owned by Ford Motor Co., sells about 1,100 automobiles in Israel every year, company spokeswoman Maria Bohlin said by telephone in Sweden. “We haven’t noticed any difference yet, but we’ll await the situation and see how it develops,” Bohlin said.

Swedish exports to Israel increased by 39 percent between 2007 and 2008 and amounted to 3.41 billion kronor ($483 million) last year, according to information on the Web site of the Swedish Embassy in Israel.

“This boycott initiative is needless and stupid,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said in a telephone interview. Palmor added that if the Swedish government doesn’t condemn the article, Israel will make it a central topic of discussions with Bildt on his scheduled visit to Jerusalem next week.

To contact the reporters on this story: Calev Ben-David in Jerusalem at cbendavid@bloomberg.net, or: Niklas Magnusson in Stockholm at nmagnusson1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 24, 2009 12:52 EDT